National Clothesline

DRAPER, UT — Leveraging its SPOT Internet-based remote Application Hosting facility, Westgate Software has created a low-cost approach to web site design and content management, allowing any drycleaner the ability to create and modify content at will.

Westgate has teamed with The Digital Ranch, a web design firm, to create a product that even the smallest drycleaners can use to build a polished and professional presence on the internet. The content is totally maintained by the drycleaner using a simple, self-guiding user interface available under password access from the Internet. Content changes can be made in minutes with the actual web site updated in real-time in seconds.

To give each drycleaner’s web site a unique look, the initial drycleaner logo graphic is professionally designed and maintained by The Digital Ranch. Cleaners can also create their own. This technology is available to any drycleaner for an initial fee plus a monthly web hosting fee.

Westgate Software manages the web hosting service as part of the monthly fee in the same $40 million commercial data center that houses SPOT Application Hosting, a 99-percent uptime facility with full 24-hour facilities management and backup redundancy.

For a look at the web site management technology in action, visit www.WestgateSoftware.com. To visit The Digital Ranch web site go to www.Digital-Ranch.net/wsi.

DOWNERS GROVE, IL – The Coin Laundry Association now offers back issues of its monthly publication, The Journal, for volumes for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.

A limited number of these volumes exist, CLA noted. For example, the 2005 series is capped at 48 sets.

CLA also has released the first half of audio CDs of the 2006 Conference in Scottsdale. Titles include, “Ultimate Drop-off Discussion,” “Redefining Energy Conservation,” “Selling Commercial Accounts,” “The Real Cost of Doing a Wash,” and “Five Tax Saving Strategies.”

All CDs include session handouts so that listeners can follow along with the speaker at the seminar.

New products in CLA’s online bookstore include, “Happiness is Owning a Laundromat” and a combination set of “Today’s Coin Laundry” and “The Financial Road to Independence.”

TULSA, OK — Royaltone Co. has announced Injectone Injection Detergent Plus with a fresh scent and odor terminator to neutralize bad odors and give a pleasant smell to all drycleaned garments.

Injectone also features an anti-static, texturizer sizing, brightener and corrosion inhibitor for drycleaning cloth articles. It reduces prespotting, re-runs and harsh scrubbing by removing sweat stains, ring-type stains and heavy soil in the drycleaning machine the first time the garments are cleaned. Garments dry with fewer wrinkles for easier finishing and gives them firm body and a luxurious soft feel.

The all-in one product saves money and comes in handy disposable plastic drums. Fully compatible with perc, petroleum and Exxon DF 2000 it partitions into both solvent and water for complete odor protection.

SOUTH PASADENA, FL — Drycleaners using the MBH Rope-Ties in their shirt departments have found new applications in their drycleaning departments — using the Rope-Ties to tie such items as drapes, ties, scarves, tasselled items and others to eliminate tangle and hassle when unloading the cleaning machine.

Widely used in laundries to tie shirts together in logs for laundering, MBH Rope-Ties can offer the same advantages by tying items usually handled loosely in drycleaning.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Hanger Holder now provides a conversion kit for its Home Delivery Hangers. The original polycarbonate plastic Home Delivery Hangers are designed to fit a standard 13 ⁄4" front door. However, some customers have doors that are only 11⁄4" in width, storm doors, for example.

Hanger Holder has developed an easy resolution to let customers use existing Home Delivery Hangers on these thinner doors. A small square piece of foam with self-adhesive on one side can be attached to the Home Delivery Hanger to provide for a tighter fit on thinner doors.

SYRACUSE, NY — Thermopatch has introduced opaque Imperv transfers for use on all colors of material. In the past, two different colors of transfers were needed, one for light garments and one for darks. The new Imperv transfer blocks out the material background no matter what color and works well on many types of fabrics.

Imperv transfers are made of organic PVC-free inks that stretch with the fabric. Also, when these “tagless” transfers are heat-sealed to the material they bond into the surface virtually eliminating any feel at all other than that of the fabric. No more worries about a sticky or scratchy feeling transfer on the back of the neck. This ink is designed to withstand industrial style washing.

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Kaeser Eco-Drains prevent the water, oil and dirt trapped by compressed air tanks, moisture separators, dryers, and filters from building up and contaminating products and expensive equipment. Controlled by capacitance sensors, these energy saving drains remove contaminated condensate, but not valuable compressed air.

The robust aluminum housing and patented pilot air-controlled valve technology ensure years of reliable service even when subjected to harsh condensate. Other features include dry contacts for central alarm signaling, LED ’s, and a test button.

LOS ANGELES, CA — Drycleaners in Southern California can receive rebates from Southern California Gas Co. for buying and installing energy-efficient steam traps. The company is offering rebates of up to $100 per steam trap, not to exceed the cost of purchase and installation. Customers often receive multiple rebates by buying several steam traps.

The gas company also offers rebates based on an appliance’s rating for the amount of natural gas it consumes for storage water heaters, instantaneous hot-water heaters, boilers and pipe insulation.

For program details, including information on models and measures that qualify, customers can contact their utility representative, visit www.socalgas.com/energyefficiency, or call (800) GAS-2000.